TIRANA, June 13 – Defiant Socialist Party MP Ben Blushi has unveiled plans for the establishment of a new political movement aimed at protecting what he calls the country’s public interest. “I have lost all hope that Socialist Party can correct itself. Albania needs a party that represents the middle class and the poor. I would gladly join a movement that aims to protect public interest and brings as many people out of poverty as possible,” Blushi said in a televised interview at the “Unexposed” program on Ora News TV last week.
Blushi, who has been engaged with the Socialist Party since the late 1990s and is serving his fourth as SP MP, hinted that the establishment of a new party is a necessity particularly since the ruling majority’s “Renaissance” program has failed and increased public despair. He also claimed that even the opposition headed by the Democratic Party has failed in its mission and that a new movement would bring together many people who are no longer satisfied with what is going on in the country. “Such a movement established in Albania with the objective of protecting public interest… which fosters people who have been unsatisfied and tortured by the ideology of the past 25 years, can be successful,” he added.
According to the SP’s controversial MP, the country’s economy is in its worst shape and under its current state it will suffer catastrophe in the next two or three years. “The situation is chaotic. We have not seen anything like this since 1997 [turmoil]. The state is not functioning. Some 10 percent of municipalities have fallen because their chairmen have criminal records. This is what the Renaissance has been doing in the past three years. People are unsatisfied with big parties. The biggest party today is the Party of Unsatisfied,” Blushi underlined, hinting that the ruling Socialist Party elects people who are willing to pay for a government position. During the interview, Blushi accused the ruling majority of lacking justice, principles and criminalizing private interest. He explained that people are not satisfied with what has been going on and that “in the next two or three years someone will come up with the idea of presenting a new option to the people.” “This option will shelter many of free and unsatisfied spirits and push them to establish a new political project that without doubt will initiate the fall of this political class,” he declared.
Blushi also reminisced about his efforts to bring change to the Socialist Party. He underlined the importance of having free and fair elections within the party and hinted that its members are not free to choose while chances that the Socialist Party changes until the next parliamentary elections are slim, even impossible. With regards to the country’s economic performance, Blushi was critical of the government of not being able to guarantee higher wages, higher pensions and cheaper prices and highlighted how both the ruling Socialist Party and opposition Democratic Party are parties of the rich rather than the poor. Blushi was also asked about the justice reform which aims to clear the country’s system from corruption and political interference. According to him, the lack of justice in a country leads to total anarchy or even oligarchy. He explained the fact that Albania needs to strengthen the role of the international community even 25 years after the fall of communism, is “a failure of the political class” which would still require “the establishment of a new political party.” However, according to Blushi if parties continue with this approach then Albania will be in total anarchy. “If there is no justice, there is no hope and people are leaving Albania while the country is getting smaller.” Commenting on the role of the opposition Democrats in the negotiations about the reform, Blushi said that “[former PM] Berisha and [opposition leader] Basha are Rama’s single allies” because they are helping him to exercise pressure on the people letting them know that “the Socialists are in fact the lesser of two evils.”
Rivalry with PM
Blushi has been Prime Minister Rama’s opponent for quite a long time. Blushi is a publicist and MP for at least four legislations. The former minister represents the elite of senior SP members that has voiced his concerns against the government since 2013 often describing it as incompetent. Earlier this year disputes between Blushi and Prime Minister Rama peaked as the latter dodged the possibility of a vote for the party’s chairmanship as required by the statute. Blushi insisted on having party elections but Rama was set on following the model of the British Party model according to which, the party leader has his or her mandate renewed automatically if the party wins parliamentary elections. The model did not sit well with Blushi and some other senior Socialist Party figures while Rama was awarded another four-year mandate via a highly criticized referendum. Blushi announced his candidacy for party leadership but was kicked out of the party chairmanship. Even at the time Blushi did not dismiss the possibility of establishing a new party, arguing that neither the Socialist Party nor the Democratic Party deliver alternatives suitable to the people. However Blushi’s discontent has made headlines several times through 2016. In May, Blushi told parliament he received life threats from mayor of Kavaja Elvis Rroshi. Rroshi (who resigned and then withdrew his resignation) has been at the center of criticism by Blushi due to his alleged criminal records. Blushi has also had clashes with his senior party MPs such as Taulant Balla. In a parliament session held at the beginning of June, Balla accused Blushi of not being a Socialist and that he had become an opponent to the government just because Rama did not give him a government position. Blushi has earned several allies within the Socialist Party who are not satisfied with the current governance. Mimoza Hafizi, a Socialist Party MP in the northern Shkodra region, has voiced her open support to Blushi and his critics against the so called “oligarchy” within the party. Blushi and his fellow colleagues have been determined to demand more accountability from the Socialist Party and insisting on Rama’s government to keep its promises and deliver democracy.
The tough new party challenge
In the last 25 years Albania’s political scene has been dominated by two major political parties: Socialists and Democrats. All efforts for the establishment of a third strong political party have almost failed if it weren’t for Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) which was formed in 2004 as a splinter group of the Socialist Party. In the past two elections the party which gathers around the strong personality of party leader Ilir Meta has managed to transform itself into a kingmaker.
In the local elections of 2015, Gjergj Bojaxhi, a former chairman of Albania’s Power Corporation also warned the establishment of a new political party to take part in the parliamentary elections scheduled for mid-2017. Bojaxhi’s public support was put to the test in June 2015 when he ran as an independent candidate in the local elections and won 16,000 votes. In addition, if Blushi’s new political party would come to life, implications to the Socialist Party would be immense particularly because the party would lose some of its key figures but also because it would be forced to bow to the kingmaker SMI.
